At 4:30 Friday afternoon, we learned from Tilly (who seems to be very much “in the know”) that there were Tea-Party-themed races for kids happening at Washington College at 5:30 Friday afternoon. This kind of last-minute life planning has become par for the proverbial course around here. Which is to say, we grabbed our running shoes and drove up to the college.

Once there, Alden and Kato registered and were issued numbers.

Kato was to run in the “two-year-old boys” race (or so we believed) and Alden would be grouped with the “four-year-old girls.”

Before any racing could occur, the kids needed to get limber. And so I, their ad-hoc, self-appointed trainer showed them how to touch their toes.

And stretch their…you know…the big muscle in the front of the leg.

And the little muscle in the back of the leg.

And the…muscle kind of in the middle of the leg.

And…you know…the…well…the…muscle that…

As trainers go, I operate more on intuition than science. After a while, Kato caught on and told me that he “wasn’t about to risk [his] health at the ill-informed whim of some ill-informed charlatan.”

He had a point. And so we gave up stretching and just danced.

And then we hydrated.

Limbered up with bellies full of water, we waited in the bleachers for the kids’ races to begin.

Eventually the two-year-olds were summoned to the starting line. Along the way, Kato, man of science, checked the density of the running surface.

Apparently, he was not pleased with what he discovered.

Which is why, I’m guessing, instead of running when his race began, he stood at the starting line expressing his heartfelt disapproval.

Alden’s race was next. She lined up with the competition.

We had convinced Kato to come along, telling him that he could run with Alden, which seemed to please him. Alas, surveying the crowd at the starting line, he recognized himself to be the only two year old. And the only boy.

The race began. He gave it a spirited six paces or so.

And then decided that it would be more fun to eat a popsicle.

Alden, on the other hand, found racing much to her liking. She tore around the track. Coming down the final stretch, it looked like she was in the lead.

But only because the 13 other girls had already crossed the finish line. Yes, Alden was next to last, though you would never know it to look at her beaming smile as she ran the 1/8 mile stretch.

After the race, she was flooded with paparazzi requests, but tastefully demurred.

We got some hot dogs and headed home, glad to live in a town that does this kind of thing.